Hydrogen

The Emerging Role of Hydrogen

Recent interest in hydrogen, unlike previous waves, is driven by the focus on net-zero energy systems, the availability of a competitive renewable electricity supply, and growing recognition of hydrogen’s versatility. The cleanest manner to produce green hydrogen is through electrolysis, powered through renewable energy sources which have no carbon emissions in the process. Therefore, the more available and affordable renewable energy makes green hydrogen a competitive solution.
Green hydrogen is poised to play a crucial role in addressing many of the climate challenges including the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is well positioned to help achieving NZ’s government ambitions and emission targets:

• 100% renewable electricity by 2030 
• 50% total final energy consumption to come from renewable sources by 2035 
• net-zero emissions of long-lived greenhouse gases by 2050
• Green hydrogen also aligns with WSP’s Future Ready® focus, a research led, evidence based approach which helps our customers understand the future more clearly and design for it today, as well as our own commitment to supporting technological and policy solutions that will help with the renewable transition. 

WSP is working on +140 Hydrogen related projects globally. Our +150 hydrogen SMEs enables us to provide advisory, project and design services across the lifecycle of projects, benefitting our clients from our growing hydrogen portfolio and knowledge of the complete hydrogen value chain. Our hydrogen expertise services include:

• Advisory and consulting
• Pre-FEED and FEED studies and services
• Owner’s engineer 
• Process, mechanical, electrical, civil and structural, chemical and design
• Environmental due diligence, permitting and licensing
• Smart and digital tools

Hydrogen’s wide range of applications makes it an ideal energy source to support our clients’ desires for low carbon solutions and deliver future energy schemes to help create a sustainable world. With the breath of our consultancy and design experience, our team possess a rich understanding of industrial and energy processes to provide multidisciplinary advisory, design and engineering services for sector specific and sustainable solutions.

WSP also has a strong hold in renewable power generation industry globally and domestically here in NZ predominantly in hydropower, wind, solar, large scale Battery Energy Storage Systems and geothermal. With broad expertise in NZ power generation, we take an integrated approach to provide the best energy solutions to maximise usage of assets and processes.

NZ Battery Other Technologies Feasibility Study – Green Hydrogen 

The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is investigating options to manage or mitigate New Zealand’s “dry year problem”. A feature of New Zealand’s highly renewable electricity system has been that our reliance on inflows into our hydroelectric dam reservoirs make us susceptible to potential shortages in “dry years”. In the future, with more of our electricity supply coming from wind and solar generation, the problem may become a “dry, calm or cloudy year problem”. The NZ Battery Project has been tasked with finding a solution to this problem in a way that supports New Zealand’s commitment to climate change mitigation and a 100 percent renewable electricity future. 

WSP was engaged by MBIE to review several alternative, non-hydro technologies that could potentially help to manage, or mitigate, the dry year problem by storing 1–5TWh of electricity (or equivalent schedulable generation releasing energy only when required). Green hydrogen alongside biomass and flexible geothermal was assessed via a structured and collaborative evaluation process as having high potential. A green hydrogen base case was developed to inform the assessment process, as follows:

• NZ Battery hydrogen and ammonia option
• Key features of the hydrogen-ammonia option are based on those recommended by WSP in its Other Technologies Feasibility Study
• Electrolysis of water into hydrogen using a fully flexible electrolyser, with buffer storage of hydrogen equivalent to about 12 hours of production at full electrolyser output
• Ammonia synthesis plant, sized to match the electrolyser plant hydrogen output
• Ammonia production which can drop to part-load rapidly, or turn off with a two-day restart time
• Bulk ammonia storage using above ground containment tanks, plus supplementary storage to support an export terminal
• Cracking of ammonia back into hydrogen to feed electricity generation through two 75 MW CCGT plants
• Most of the response is provided by turning off the electrolyser, but significant response also from the hydrogen-fuelled generation